A power-play goal by Martin Gernat with 6:41 to play lifted Slovakia to a 3-1 victory over ROC and temporarily into first place in Group A with a perfect 3-0 record after three games at the 2021 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship.
“It’s an awesome feeling,” said Gernat. “We spoke after the second period about how one shot could win the game and I’m lucky that I was the goal scorer. We’re very happy with the win and the three points. It’s a great feeling.”
Peter Cehlarik and Marek Hrivik both had two assists for Slovakia in the game, and goaltender Julius Hudacek stopped 27 of 28 shots.
“For me it was a little bit special because I know all the players and their GM is my GM in Spartak and their goalie coach was my coach too, so it’s a special win for me but of course, the team is always first,” said Hudacek, who relieved an injured Branislav Konrad midway through Saturday night’s game against Great Britain. “I’m really happy that we did it today. I think we played better than Russia, we were skating good, holding the puck, creating good chances. This is so important for our confidence, that we can beat whatever team we play.”
It was a game between two teams that were 2-0 heading into the game, and it was certainly a game worthy of deciding top spot in Group A for now. While neither of their victories over Belarus or Great Britain can be seen as surprising, the Slovaks have announced their presence with this game and, looking around the group and seeing some of the usual contenders struggling, the opportunity might be there to go far in this tournament if they can keep up this level of play.
Although the score might suggest otherwise, these two teams forechecked hard for much of the game, with KHL goalies Hudacek and Alexander Samonov and earning their keep. Both would end up being chosen their teams’ best players.
The scoring chances started right away, with Hlivik whistling a shot just wide of the post 30 seconds in. Five minutes later, Hudacek made a nice save off Anton Slepyshev through traffic.
Eventually, the pace settled down a bit late in the first period and early in the second, with each team getting a power play but not generating much on it.
It was the Slovaks who finally struck first, breaking the scoreless draw at the exact midpoint of the hockey game. It was a brilliant play by Milos Roman that led to the goal, stripping of the puck in the Russian zone. He then dropped a pass to Milos Kelemen, who used a defenceman as a screen and fired a wrist shot that beat Samonov high to the blocker side.
“Milos Roman did a great job. He made a wonderful pass and it was it was an amazing feeling when it went in,” said 21-year-old Kelemen, who was playing in his first World Championship game. “It’s a dream come true to score my first goal for the national team. And more importantly, it’s a three-point win so, what can I say? It’s amazing.”
“The main thing was that we needed to start in better shape,” said Russian defenceman Ivan Provorov. “There’s no time to settle into games here, every team starts strongly.”
But just 20 seconds later, the Russians went to the power play and 46 seconds after that, the game was tied. After working it around in the zone, Slepyshev carried the puck behind the Slovak goal and fed it out front to Sergei Tolchinski, whose one-timer was tipped in by Alexander Barabanov.
And then the two teams continued to press, with the best chance going to Artyom Zub, who rang a shot off the goalpost in the 35th minute. In the closing minutes of the middle frame, the physical play picked up, and several players went into the intermission in a foul mood, setting the stage for a big third period.
“We were a bit slow to get started but when we found our rhythm we started to play better,” said forward Vladislav Kamenev. “We had chances but we couldn’t take them. Slovakia blocked a lot of shots, they got a lot of sticks in the way. We didn’t get the bounces in front of the net.”
With 7:24 to go, Maxim Shalunov was sent off for hooking and the Slovak power play went to work. Cehlarik had a nice shot from the blue line that Samonov had to be sharp on, but they kept the pressure up and it finally paid off. Hrivik fed Gernat at the point, and he fired a slapper that glanced off the skate of a Russian penalty-killer in the slot and up and over the shoulder of Samonov, who was on his way down.
“We have to stay that way, compete and in the next game we have to keep doing what we did in these three,” said Gernat. “I don’t know if it sends a message to the other teams here. We just go, that’s all. It’s a great feeling to score against Russia.”
The Russians tried to mount somewhat of an offensive after that but didn’t generate much as the Slovaks played solid defence. When put the game away with an empty-net goal by Marek Daloga following a turnover and a nice tic-tac-toe passing play, the Slovak bench let out a roar. Another followed moments later when a coach’s challenge for offside launched by Valeri Bragin resulted in the goal being upheld. The two-goal difference and the resulting delay-of-game penalty virtually assured victory to the Slovaks.
“There was a little bit of time in the second period where they had us running around in our own end and we fought through it,” said Slovak coach Craig Ramsay. “The boys battled right to the end. When we went ahead in the third, we really did a great job staying composed with and without the puck. It was a very solid effort.”
Hudacek’s last save of the game was on a long shot as time expired, and he batted the puck away with his stick before being mobbed by his teammates.
“Our confidence is pretty high right now but still, we have to keep going and play the same way every game because the next game is very important for us,” the Slovak goalie said. “I think Switzerland is one of the best teams in the tournament.”
After two days off, Slovakia’s game with Switzerland on Thursday could be another tilt for top spot in the group. Russia, meanwhile, is still very much in the mix and faces Denmark on Wednesday.
“We need fewer turnovers in the neutral zone, we need a bit more imagination up front, but at the same time we sometimes need to keep it simple,” said Provorov. “We need more simple passes, we needed to get more traffic in front of the net. We don’t have to score the perfect goal every time, we can just get pucks to the net and look for rebounds. Now we need to draw the right conclusions and learn from this for the next games.”
